Israel is the leading country when it comes to cannabis research and innovation. Therefore, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that many cannabis-related start-ups sprouted there. Ishence is one of them. “Our solution combines intensive LED lights that we created with adjustable spectrum, together with an irrigation and fertigation system, and an environmental controller,” Shelley Barak, co-founder of Ishence, explains. “It was a long way to get where we are right now, but all the efforts and commitment definitely paid off.”
Chasing innovation
Shelly further explains that he and his partner, Joshua Finkelstein, both have a background in agronomy, and Shelly in computer science. “My partner is specifically specialized in water technology,” he points out. “So, the first thing that we did was an automated irrigation and fertigation system. We saw that a substantial number of growers didn’t know how much to irrigate, and you must do it correctly. There were some sensors available back then that could give you some sort of measurements, but they could not be used for a soilless medium. That is why our first development was an irrigation and fertigation sensor for soilless media. It uses the runoff – the water coming out of the pot – which is used to test the water quality, and the differential of water properties so as to know what the plant is using of that water.”
Importance of perfect lighting
Then, Shelly says that they started doing a large-scale grow test, and noticed that lighting represented another limiting factor for cultivation. “Lighting is extremely important, and if that does not perfectly match the irrigation and fertigation, for instance, then it can have major repercussions on the quality of the crop and the eventual yield,” he remarks. “So, I built a controller of the light that would make it possible to tune it to the right spectrum, and my partner built a light. At first, it was just for experimenting, but then we realized that it was a significant improvement, and thus we continued researching and experimenting. We carried out experiments through trial and error for one year to find the right light spectrum for the different grow stages. A lot of mistakes were made, but we got to a really great point. Indeed, one of the biggest retail chain stores in Israel bought our light for testing, and then they decided that they wanted everything that we were making.”
As of now, Ishence is working on an installation for a large-scale cannabis grow in Israel. “We really want to showcase what we are capable of with this project,” he says. “Irrigation, fertigation, climate control: all of these are going to be top-class; this is going to be very exciting for us.”
However, Ishence is not focused on cannabis only. “We want to branch out into other fields,” Shelly points out. “Growing in soilless medium will be the future, as well as growing under LED lights. These elements can be used in other types of crops as well, and we want to be there for them too.”
For more information:
Ishence
Kibuttz Ein Hahoresh, Israel
ishence-grow.com